caveat -- if your VCR is still blinking 12:00 then you're not ready for linux...
On Sat, Jul 14, 2001 at 04:41:21AM -0000, john smith wrote: > Hi, > > I was just wondering...I don't know if this topic is for this > list but...is there a book or link somewhere that gives easier > examples of how to do the correct syntax for "man" something. > This probably won't be any problems to you unix gurus out > there but if I wanted to do something and I do a "man" > something, I get arcane (at least for me) explanations of how > to use different options/parameters of that something but not > giving me a simple example on how to do the command with the > options I want correctly and I'd spend a lot of time figuring > out the correct syntax instead of spending time with something > else. it would certainly be nice for the "man" pages to > include a simple example of a correct command's syntax and > how to add options etc.. along with the lengthy explanation of > all of the available commands options. might not be useful to > you gurus out there but it certainly will help newbies to make > the learning curve a little easier? as others have said, "man" shows the reference manual, which is typically a feature-by-feature, option-by-option discussion of what a particular program does, or what a particular config file will accept. you're not likely to glean much on what a particular program is actually FOR, at least not from a manpage. (some include examples, and those help a lot.) and sometimes there's not much manpage at all -- you gotta go look under "info" or /usr/share/doc/<package> instead. or maybe even out to the web, on the author's own website. and sometimes there's no documentation at all... but that's rare. (even the most self-satisfied programmer wants her program to be USED, so she'll likely write up an intro, at the very least.) so here it is, anyway -- at least i think this is what you might be asking for: man <command> shows you the nitty-gritty for <command>, as in man ls man chmod man apt-get you can also try man <configfilename> which discusses the syntax and options expected in a particular configuration file, such as man sources.list man inted.conf man inittab the unix 'manual' is broken up into several sections, and occasionally you'll get the manpage from section 3 but you're wanting the one from section 8. if you know which section to ask for, try man <section> <itemToReadAbout> man -a <itemToReadAbout> <== shows ALL matching manpages in sequence for example, "locale" has manpages in sections 1, 3, 5 and 7. to see the one from section 5, i'd do man 5 locale NOTE each section has a terse intro: to see it, do man 4 intro man 8 intro ... how do you know which section you've been reading? the section appears in parentheses after the title on every page: GETHOSTNAME(2) Linux Programmer's Manual GETHOSTNAME(2) so "man gethostname" is from section two. (when something refers you to "locale(3)" read the right one via "man 3 locale".) to see which commands are RELATED to a certain term, also try apropos <term> whatis <term> -- at the newbieDoc project (newbieDoc.sourceForge.net) we've just discovered a package that's been around for quite some time: apt-get install dhelp dhelp try that, and see what it gets you. and, if you have a task you'd like to apply your debian machine to, write it up and send it to debian user, asking how it can be made to do what you want it to. the folks 'round these parts don't mind sharing their brain cells with a new friend. :) that's probably the best way to learn linux. you wouldn't think that "grep" has anything to do with finding which files contain certain patterns, would you? not unless you already knew unix. so ask those who do know. we'll get you started. -- DEBIAN NEWBIE TIP #85 from USM Bish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> : Where should you SEARCH FOR DEBIAN PACKAGES? http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages Also, apt-cache search <package> might get you the info as well. Also see http://newbieDoc.sourceForge.net/ ...